If you plea guilty to a Missouri traffic ticket, points are assessed to your driver's license for each infraction, regardless of the severity. Accumulation of too many points can result in fines, license suspension, or escalation of your insurance rates. Therefore, it is important to aggressively fight traffic tickets in order to preserve your license. Many times a plea deal can be negotiated to keep points off your license. This is known as amending a ticket, or getting your ticket fixed.
Although many traffic violations may not carry the same penalties as other, more serious crimes, even the lower-level offenses can result in significant fines, loss of driving privileges, and increased insurance rates. And the more serious offenses, or even some less serious violations if they are part of a series of violations by the same offender, can result in imprisonment.
Ordinarily speeding tickets are offenses or infractions rather than crimes, but it is not uncommon for speeding tickets to be treated as misdemeanors. Some traffic offenses are more serious than others and can result in penalties as serious as imprisonment. While a traffic infraction might be a minor matter if no one is hurt, the same incident can be a misdemeanor or felony if someone is hurt or killed or if there is serious property damage. Some specific traffic offenses are considered serious violations on their own, such as drunk driving or operating a vehicle without a license. A person charged with a traffic related crime should treat his or her situation seriously and contact an attorney who can help to protect their rights.
Many states utilize a point system to monitor the driving records of their citizens. Under a point system, traffic violations are assigned point values and the driving privileges of individuals who accumulate a certain number of points in a specified time period will be suspended or revoked. Points also can lead to increased auto insurance rates.
The basic speeding law in Missouri typically provides that "no person shall drive a vehicle greater than is reasonable and prudent under the conditions and having regard to the actual and potential hazards then existing." Uniform Vehicle Code §11-801. Laws of this kind operate independently of other traffic laws, including laws prescribing a maximum speed. For example, although the maximum speed in a particular area is 55 MPH, a driver might be issued a speeding ticket for driving 55 MPH if doing so is unreasonable because of weather, road, or traffic conditions.
Laws establishing maximum speeds for roads in particular areas are called statutory seed limits. For example, a statutory speed limit may set a maximum speed of 35 MPH in urban districts a maximum speed of 55 MPH in all other locations. Uniform Vehicle Code §11-802. The statutory speed limit generally applies unless a posted speed limit designates a different speed.
A minimum speed rule or minimum speed law typically provides that "no person shall drive a motor vehicle at such a slow speed as to impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic." Uniform Vehicle Code §11-805(a). Additionally, a minimum speed rule might require drivers who are driving at less than the normal speed of traffic to drive in the right-hand lane. Uniform Vehicle Code §11-301(b).
State or local governments may increase the statutory speed limits, decrease the statutory speed limits, or set minimum speed limits on roads under their jurisdiction. In general, states may also establish different highway speed limits for different types of vehicles, at different times of the day, for various weather conditions, or for other factors bearing on safe speeds. Uniform Vehicle Code §11-803. For example, posted speed limits that designate a speed different than the speed provided by the statutory speed law are frequently found on state highways, on residential streets, in school zones, and in business districts. Posted speed limits that vary from the statutory speed limit are also used to designated maximum speeds at certain times (when children are present or certain times of day, for example), at particular places (sharp curves, entry ramps and exit ramps), or for particular vehicles (trucks over a minimum weight). Posted speed limits are presumed to be safe and some states require speeding to continue for a certain distance before it becomes a violation.
Missouri utilizes a point system to monitor the driving records of their citizens. Under a point system, traffic violations are assigned point values and the driving privileges of individuals who accumulate a certain number of points in a specified time period will be suspended or revoked. Points also can lead to increased auto insurance rates. There is no uniform point system used across all states. Rather, each state determines how many points are assigned to each offense and how many points a driver must accumulate before action is taken against him or her. Generally, points increase with the severity of the violation. For example, drunk driving, hit and runs, reckless driving and speeding 20 or more miles over the posted speed limit have higher point totals than other traffic violations.
Once a driver has accumulated a certain number of points during a certain time frame - usually between 12 and 36 months - his or her license may be suspended or revoked. Some states also require attendance in driver improvement programs once a driver has accrued a set number of points. In determining whether offenses occurred within the applicable time period, some states use the date of the violation, some use the date of the conviction and others use either the date of the violation or the date of the conviction.
In some situations, out-of-state violations occurring during the applicable time period may be used as a basis for ordering suspension or revocation of a license in the driver's home state. Generally for this to happen, the out-of-state offense also must be an offense punishable by license suspension or revocation in the driver's home state.
Driving privileges can be suspended or revoked even if a driver has not accumulated the requisite number of points. Conviction of certain violations, such as driving under the influence, can result in a loss of driving privileges. In some states, if a traffic hearing officer determines that the driver acted in flagrant disregard for the safety of others, the driver's license can be suspended.
Traffic offenses range from the minor, like failing to come to a complete stop at a stop sign, to the serious, such as leaving the scene of an accident. States often rate the various traffic offenses on a point system, assigning point values to each violation based on its severity. State departments of motor vehicles and insurance companies regularly monitor the number of points accumulated by individual drivers. Drivers with too many points in a given period of time may see increased insurance rates, may lose their insurance coverage altogether or may even lose their driving privileges..
Depending on the state, the particular traffic offense on which the suspension or revocation will be based or both, the decision to suspend or revoke a driver's license may be required or within the discretion of the person or entity authorized to suspend or revoke the license. In all states, driver's license revocation or suspension can have a serious impact on one's life and should not be taken lightly.
License revocation is ordered to both discipline the driver and to protect the public. Revocation is usually permanent; that means the driver's license cannot be reinstate and after the term of revocation required by law has passed, a new license must be issued before driving privileges can be restored. Additionally, revocation typically requires a reinstatement hearing and an examination before a new license is issued. Suspension, on the other, is usually temporary and a new license is not required to reinstate driving privileges. A suspended driver's license can be reinstated by correction the violation that caused the suspension (by obtaining proper insurance coverage, for example) or by paying a fine and waiting for the term of suspension required by law to pass.
In general, a license may be properly revoked or suspended to prevent harm to the public or for any reason that would have justified that state's refusal to issue the license in the first place. For example, because the state may refuse to issue a divers license to a person whose physical disability or mental incapacity impair his or her ability to operate a motor vehicle, the state may also revoke a person's driver's license because of a similar physical disability or mental incapacity that develops after his or her license was issued.
With respect to driving-related offenses, revocation or suspension is usually authorized by the state's points system whereby a driver who accumulates a certain number of points within period of time may have his or her driver's license revoked or suspended. Driving-related offenses that might result in driver's license suspension or revocation include: serious traffic offenses such as drunk driving, less serious traffic offense such as speeding, reckless driving, failure to pay fines, failure to attend a hearing, and allowing a vehicle under your control to be operated in violation of a traffic law.
If your right to drive is suspended in a state other than the state in which you reside, the state in which you reside may also elect to revoke or suspend your license within its borders as well. In such cases, the suspension in your state of residence must be concurrent with the foreign state's suspension or revocation. That is, the suspension or revocation ordered by your home state cannot be imposed after the foreign state reinstates your driving privileges, or last longer than the suspension ordered by the foreign state.
The Law Office of Aaron A. Farmer, LC, routinely handles speeding tickets, stop sign tickets, fail to signal tickets, u-turn tickets, following to closely tickets, driving while suspended, driving while revoked, driving while intoxicated, careless and imprudent, and high speed tickets in all courts in St. Louis, St. Charles, and Jefferson Counties. Mr. Farmer handled traffic matters in the following Municipal Courts: Ballwin, Bel-Nor, Bella Villa, Bellefontaine Neighbors, Bellerive Acres, Berkeley, Beverly Hills, Black Jack, Breckenridge Hills, Brentwood, Bridgeton, Calverton Park, Charlack, Chesterfield, Clarkson Valley, Clayton, Cool Valley, Country Club Hills, Country Life Acres, Crestwood, Creve Coeur, Crystal Lake Park, Dellwood, Des Peres, Edmundson, Ellisville, Eureka, Fenton, Ferguson, Flordell Hills, Florissant, Frontenac, Glendale, Glen Echo Park, Grantwood Village ,Greendale, Green Park, Hanley Hills, Hazelwood, Hillsdale, Huntleigh, Jennings, Kinloch, Kirkwood, Ladue, Lakeshire, Mackenzie, Manchester, Maplewood, Marlborough, Maryland Heights, Moline Acres, Normandy, Northwoods, Norwood Court, Oakland, Olivette, Overland, Pacific, Pagedale, Pasadena Hills, Pasadena Park, Pine Lawn, Richmond Heights, Riverview, Rock Hill, Saint Ann, Saint George, Saint John, Shrewsbury, St. LouisSunset Hills, Sycamore Hills, Town & Country, Twin Oaks, University City, Uplands Park, Valley Park, Velda City, Velda Village Hills, Vinita Park, Vinita Terrace, Warson Woods, Webster Groves, Wellston, Westwood, Wilbur Park, Wildwood, Winchester, Woodson Terrace, Augusta, Barklage, Cottleville, Dardenne Prairie, Flint Hill, Foristell, Lake St. Louis, New Melle, O'Fallon, Portage Des Sioux, St. Charles, St. Paul, St. Peters, Weldon Spring, Weldon Spring Heights, Wentzville, West Alton, Arnold, Byrnes Mill, Cedar Hill Lakes, Crystal City, DeSoto, Festus, Herculaneum, Hillsboro, Kimmswick, Olympian Village, Parkdale, Pevely, and Scotsdale.